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Cover of: Is Naturalism Too Big to Fail?
Charles Taliaferro

Is Naturalism Too Big to Fail?

[Is Naturalism Too Big to Fail? An Audit of Strict and Broad Naturalism]
Section: Articles
Volume 1 (2014) / Issue 1, pp. 87-98 (12)
Published 09.07.2018
DOI 10.1628/219728314X13946985796998
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    CC BY-SA 4.0
  • 10.1628/219728314X13946985796998
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Summary
The phrase »too big to fail« is used in the USA as a reason to rescue businesses from bankruptcy, because their failure would be catastrophic. This essay begins charting a case that naturalism (in all its forms, broad and strict) is not such that its abandonment would bring about a philosophical disaster. Securing such a conclusion is not possible in a single essay, but what is argued for is that the confident portrayal of naturalism as the presumptive starting place for inquiry needs to be superseded by the primacy of philosophy both in terms of inquiry and the aims of the journal. Because theology includes philosophy, but is not limited to it, the essay argues for the primacy of theology as well, rather than a naturalist worldview. Another essay in the future will fill out a non-naturalist alternative, arguing that if naturalism is abandoned, there is a healthy, vibrant alternative.